Pilot VPen Fine Nib Black Disposable Fountain Pen

So, the pen up for review today was purchased from a brand-spankin’-new online store (I placed the fourth order they had, if that gives you any idea of how new), Maido Stationery. More on them later…

Along with several other items, I picked up this Pilot VPen. To be honest, I’ve not been all that enamoured with the performance of my Pilot Varsity medium nib fountain pens, and I wondered about the quality of the VPen. Since the nib on the VPen is fine (although Maido also carries them in medium), I was hoping that it would not suffer from the incessant ink blots and thick line that I dislike about the Varsity, and was glad to see that it did not… (I’ve come to find out that the Varsity and VPen are actually the same exact pen, just labeled/designed for different markets.)

But, that’s not to say that is my new “perfect pen”. I do have an issue with the ink drying time and the fact that it smears, even when written on the Rhodia Bloc I use for testing pens. But that’s the only problem I have. Other than that it’s an excellent fine tipped fountain pen, and I can possibly see myself refilling it with a faster drying ink (if I can figure out how to do it correctly without tearing it all to pieces, lol).

So, a little bit more info on the stationer that I ordered these from. Maido Stationery, which was started in Japan in 1963 and came to the United States in 1988 and opened a store in Japantown, San Francisco. In addition they also have three other stores, but the thing I want to focus on is their recent beginning in the online marketplace. They offer a wide range of Japanese stationery products including fountain, gel, rollerball, brush, and ballpoint pens as well as the famous Midori Traveler’s Notebooks (an interesting product which I have yet to try, mainly due to it’s high price, although it has been reviewed over at Black Cover) and many othe rinteresting products! Check ’em out for great prices and a fine stock of items with more new stationery stuff on the way!

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Maido Stationery is a welcome addition to the paper & pen market here, but how can they compete with JetPens and its huge selection, better photos, better descriptions and on-line support? Both have free shipping with $25 minimum order.

Hey Claire, I’m not sure how they’ll compete with JetPens, but I have been talking to their marketing rep and have put some ideas in their ear about some affordable Japanese fountain pens and specialty pens, especially in the mid-price range (ie. $5-30, since you basically, in most stores, jump straight from disposable to a Lamy Safari or Vista)… I think it’d be great if they would carry some oddball products that JetPens doesn’t carry… 🙂

Regarding smearing ink – it’s a fact of life with virtually every fountain pen I have ever used and, being a left handed person, I feel (or show) the effects more. But when life hands you a lemon…Many years ago, when I was a child, some Japanese engineers that were buying some equipment from my father, were taking notes with a fountain pen. I hadn’t seen one before and was marveling at it and at the Japanese kanji writing. The engineer asked if I knew what bamboo was. I told him yes, and he said he would teach me to draw bamboo the way “Japan people” do it. So try it with your Varsity.

Draw a small, flat letter “s” on its side. Immediately use the side of your thumb to smear the ink vertically up. Toward the top of that smear, draw another sideways “s” and smear it down. Over that, draw a smaller “s” and continue until you have single bamboo stalk. A small dot of ink smeared the same way will be the stems and leaves that sprout from the ground and the top of the bamboo. Have fun with it!